\section[San Francisco]{San Francisco by Night}
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\quot{I left my heart in a locked box, which I then dumped into the trench.}

\noindent San Francisco is a name to conjure with, being ``The City'' that people talk about when they are in the fifth largest metropolitan area in North America. Which being North America is kind of a big deal, since that puts the place as slightly more populous than \emph{Austria}. It's richer too. Than the entire country of Austria. San Francisco has a reputation for being liberal, technically advanced, and gay. By the standards that apply, all of these are true. San Francisco is one of the most liberal areas in the United States, and one of the hottest places on Earth for scientific research and man on man sex. Of course, it's important to note that the place is also \emph{big}, so it's still entirely possible to hang out there for a whole day and never see a new computer chip or lip locked mustaches. Indeed, being the gayest city on Earth still only means that about 1 in 6 people are gay.

\subsection*{City Statistics}

\desc{The Bay Area extends for 120 kilometers of California coastline from Santa Cruz in the south up through Vallejo to the north, the Bay Area has over eight and a half million people in it. But the crown jewel of this burgeoning mega city is San Francisco. Built in a nearly square patch at the end of the Peninsula and the mouth of the San Francisco Bay, San Francisco proper is 10 kilometers on a side and has 750,000 people in it. And more than half of the metropolitan area's two thousand or so supernatural creatures live \emph{there}. It makes the town itself a pretty magical place. Of special note is the fact that the Bay Area does not have a majority ``race'' -- while there are more ``white'' people than anyone else, they don't have a majority.}

\noindent The city is a World Crime League stronghold and has been for almost a hundred and fifty years. The area is a land not just of immigrants, but of \emph{recent} immigrants, so the fact that Daevas and Bagheera are the original supernatural creatures here is barely a blip in the demographics of modern nights. The WCL boasts a membership of about 800 supernaturals in San Francisco proper with another 500 members located around the Bay Area. The Sabbat maintains a small holding in San Francisco, but remember that ``small'' out here still means that the Bishop has 100 supernaturals in her flock. And the number of Camarilla creatures is much the same, and mostly based in Oakland. The Carthian presence is disorganized, but roughly twice that size. They don't even have a headquarters. There is a known Marduk Society base \emph{and} a hellmouth in overt control of The King With Three Shadows near the outskirts of the Bay Area.

\subsection*{City History}

\desc{While the United States has held onto existence longer than any country on Earth except the United Kingdom, it is a fact that major cities north of the Rio Grande are a recent development. San Francisco is no exception, and while it is sung of the world over, the fact remains that San Francisco was not even a permanent settlement until 1776. At the time it was a region rich in game and sparse in humans. The Catholic Church set up a series of Missions designed to capture the natives and torture and enslave them until they accepted Christianity or died. As it happens, the Ohlone are basically nonexistent today, so \emph{that} worked out. The Sabbat siezed this opportunity as part of their ongoing war with the False Face, and set up a Diocese there with Hidalgo Cabaron as Apolostolic Exarch and then Bishop of San Francisco. And with his flock of five henchmen, he ruled the area harshly with the fire of fanaticism that was popular at the time. But while the city's population was small and the economy was fairly depressed, that all changed in the middle of the 19th century.}

\desc{In 1848, Mexico had lost the Mexican-American War, and San Francisco became a US city. This scarcely mattered to the Sabbat, because they didn't pay taxes anyway. But in 1849 \emph{gold} was discovered in California, and San Francisco went from 79 buildings to a bursting metropolis of over 100,000 people in a few months. Supernatural creatures came with the migrants, almost a hundred of them in the first year. And they came from every Covenant and continent of the Earth. And suddenly the Sabbat wasn't the only game in town -- they were totally outnumbered by other Covenants who didn't even care about them. Bishop Cabaron fought back, and that's all that history has to say about Sabbat ownership of San Francisco.}

\desc{With the rush to create the transcontinental railroad, a whole bunch of Chinese men were brought in as cheap labor. And with them a bunch of ex pirates. And this gave the demographic edge to the World Crime League, which has gradually increased its presence ever since. In the latter parts of the 19th century, backlashes against Chinese people were quite fierce, and the legendary Chinatown of San Francisco is basically the legacy of a pogrom. This actually strengthened the hand of the triads who took their protection of Asian interests in San Francisco as a license to do whatever else they wanted to.}

\desc{And then came the Earthquake. In 1906, the entire area was flattened and burned. Lots of people disappeared and there was much tragedy to be had. But by that point, the World Crime League was already well in control of the supernatural society of the area. So when it came time to rebuild, the WCL had certain things built the way they wanted them. There are a lot of secret doors and such in Chinatown. Indeed, Chinatown never dispersed even when the pogroms ended because the WCL \emph{liked} having a mysterious semi-autonomous region in the middle of the city where rich Asian people could pass unnoticed and unremarked upon.}

\noindent And in the 1970s the technical revolution started. Major computer companies changed the way things worked. And they did so from San Jose. What once was farmlands adjacent to San Francisco proper became back to back cities. A continuous sprawl that now dwarfs whole nations which is not only younger than some of the immortal supernatural overseers, but seriously younger than actual mortal observers. ``Do You Know The Way to San Jose?'' is especially ironic: San Jose is a great big freeway too now.

\subsection*{Power}

\desc{Back when women were not allowed to come over from Asia, female companionship of any kind was in terribly short supply -- and fierce demand. And so it was that the lovely and immortal Verbena now known only as ``The Peach Lady'' came to become leader of the pirates, and eventually the Captain of the entire city. People say she used to be a prostitute, or maybe even a harem slave, but not to her face because that would be \emph{dangerous}. The Peach Lady operates her business out of a restaurant that is continuously closed for a private party. This is actually a normal enough occurrence for any of the 300 \emph{other} restaurants in the area, that the fact that they are literally \emph{never} open to the public has seriously never come up. She is surprisingly small and rather fun to be around.}

\desc{The Quartermaster of San Francisco operates out of a trading company on Jackson Street. He is a Deep One named Shen The Beast. He has a hotline to the city's Councilor in Kuala Lumpur and a frighteningly complete list of how much everything and everyone is worth. He has a dozen Wealth Ministers whose only job is to estimate how things function. And for all this, he is hated. And yet, it is undeniably true that with all of San Francisco's oppressive bureaucracy, the WCL has efficiently fought off all threats mortal and otherwise under Shen's frog-like watch. A major sticking point is that while much of the WCL high leadership is Khmer, Vietnamese, or Malay, the WCL leadership in San Francisco is mostly Chinese.}

\noindent It is said that the WCL in San Francisco has a hundred ministers. This is an exaggeration -- they have 76. There's the Law Minister whose job it is to keep a handle on the Asian Crimes Division in the police. There's the Military Minister of Comparative Biology who conducts research into the nature of supernatural threats to the city (he has some scary theories). And there's the Sorcery Minister of Maya Portal Management whose job is to keep track of things that go into and come out of the fairy ring at the Palace of the Legion of Honor. And so on. With so many ministerships to be had, there is a fair amount of room for advancement. And then there's the San Jose question: with the newfound wealth to the South a lot of WCL members are advocating expanding there, which implies even more ministries to be had.

\subsection*{Places to Go}

\desc{Almost everywhere you will go in the Bay Area is a place you will get by car. While compact by Los Angeles standards, the California car culture is alive and well in the Bay Area. The famous ``cable cars'' are what people in Europe call ``Trams'' and they only operate around northwestern San Francisco proper. The city of San Jose has an entirely separate system called the light rail. These are useful for getting some places, but mostly if you're already \emph{in} the financial district and want to get to a \emph{different part} of the financial district. Major commuter lines are served by high speed trains (called ``BART''), but again you're probably going to end up driving to the train station in the first place. As such, physical distance between points doesn't matter nearly as much as the time it takes being \emph{stuck in traffic} or \emph{looking for parking}. Places in the East Bay that have ample parking may well be ``closer'' in real terms than areas that are quite near as the crow flies that have heavy congestion and few spaces. It is important to note that overall there are more cars than parking spaces in San Francisco proper, so it's not even possible for there to not be traffic at any time of the day or night.}

\desc{Chinatown is the oldest and biggest Chinatown in North America. It's basically what people mean when they say ``Chinatown'' even if they aren't even in the Bay Area or even North America. It's been the largest enclave of Chinese outside of Asia since the 1850s, and much of ``Chinese Cuisine'' was actually invented here (such as the fortune cookie). You can't drive in Chinatown, because traffic (foot and otherwise) will stop you cold. What you actually do is park your car in the parking garage on Kearny and walk around. Like everything in San Francisco proper, the area is built onto a hill, so streets are fairly steep. Space is at a premium here, so pretty much all buildings have stores and offices and restaurants and apartments all mixed up on different floors. In just a few square blocks there are over 300 restaurants, continually pushing the boundary of Chinese Cuisine the world over: this fact really hacks off many Mainland Chinese, it would be like if the engine behind ``French Cuisine'' happened to be New Orleans or something. And of course, amongst all the dodgy trading companies (where yes, you can buy a terracotta warrior. For money), there is the headquarters of the World Crime League.}

\desc{Golden Gate Park is a very large and justifiably famous park. It's over four square kilometers and runs all the way from the Panhandle to the Pacific Ocean. It's seriously bigger than Central Park in New York, and it has all kinds of cool stuff in it. There are museums and special groves. Ponds and outdoor music areas. And of course: it has an actual population of homeless people who live there, only some of whom are stereotypical hippies. Treeferns, rose fields, and a real Japanese Tea Garden are just a small section of the stuff here. Supernatural creatures who need to do stuff outdoors pretty much always choose the Park. Because it's a really nice place, and it's actually big enough that you can hide long enough to do a magic ritual. Also there's a culture around the area such that if someone came across you and asked what you were up to you could answer ``I'm performing a magic ritual'' and they'd say ``OK'' and move on. This wouldn't even constitute breaking the Masquerade, because \emph{no one would care}.}

\desc{The Palace of the Legion of Honor is an art museum done up as a Grecco-Roman temple. It's built onto the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean and surrounded by actual \emph{woods} in what is otherwise one of the more crowded cities in North America is incredibly incongruous but an absolutely fantastic place to swan around in fancy clothes. In case you were wondering, \emph{yes} there's a way into the dreamlands in one of the restricted areas.}

\desc{The Port of Oakland is one of the largest container ship ports on the Pacific. Many people call it the port of ``San Francisco'' and that's sort of right, in that it \emph{is} on the San Francisco Bay. But shipping is noisy, smelly, and generates crime, so the well manicured city of San Francisco proper was only too happy to get that NIMBY off their hands and across the Bay Bridge. Oakland, on the other hand, is the place where ``The light at the end of the tunnel is Alameda'' and was only too happy to take noise and crime in exchange for industry and development. About two thousand vessels come into port every year, which is more than five a \emph{day}. And while that's just five percent of the traffic seen by a really ridiculous port like Rotterdam or Singapore, it's still more than the disinterested Oakland authorities care to investigate. So supernatural creatures can, and pretty much \emph{do} send themselves any kind of crazy crap they want through the Port of Oakland. They don't even usually bother with stashing contraband and sorcerous goods in mirror pockets or near-dock Astral jaunts. With the kind of corruption the WCL is accustomed to with customs it just isn't necessary. The fact that the WCL runs this place like it was their underaged child is a source of contention with Kigeri, who feels that as Prince of Oakland the port is rightfully part of his territory.}

\desc{Silicon Valley is a region at the southern tip of the bay. It's composed of such cities as Milpitas, Cupertino, Campbell, Los Gatos, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and of course, San Jose. It has cutting edge technology, a vast a hastily erected sprawl that even the locals don't understand very well, 2.3 million people, and almost no supernatural activity at all. Almost all of that has been built up over the last 40 years, and San Jose isn't even listed as a territory in Sabbat dioceses. The most populous city in the whole Bay Area is San Jose and it has no Prince, no Archbishop, no nothing. It shows up on Camarilla maps as being simply blank space between San Francisco and LA. The monsters and power brokers of the Silicon Valley are generally humans. And when some Luminary at Apple or Sun makes themselves an Android love robot, they do so without the World Crime League or Marduk Society \emph{even knowing about it}. What few supernatural creatures are native to that area have a tendency to believe that they are special and have no idea that there are others like themselves.}

\desc{Santa Cruz is a university and coastal resort town that is cut off from the rest of the bay area by an intrusion of mountains. And while it's just a half hour by car to the heart of the city, it gives the city a feeling of idyllic isolation that is probably unwarranted. For the World of Darkness aficionado, the really important part is that this is the city where \underline{Lost Boys} (where it is called Santa \emph{Carla}) and the entire 4th and 5th seasons of \underline{Buffy the Vampire Slayer} (where the university is called ``UCS\textbf{D}'' instead of its real name of UCS\textbf{C}) takes place. All of those places are real. The comic store is called Atlantis and the bearded guy behind the counter is named Joe. Porter really is the home of ``someone sneezed party'' (it's the college dorm where they put the art students). And yes, that means that in the World of Darkness, those events are basically history. The Initiative is of course a Marduk Society hunting agency, and the groups of Daeva biker vampires are totally there too. Interesting note: the actual name of the local biker gang there is ``The Vampires.''}

\desc{Fremont is a never ending wasteland in the East Bay. It has seven different exits on 880 and driving past them at 100 kilometers an hour still feels like it takes forever. But somewhere in that endless suburban housing development there's a hellmouth that is bringing fey across to make war on the mortal world. It's remarkably hard to track down, because Fremont is a commuter community where no one has any sense of civic pride or well, \emph{community}. People who live in Fremont conduct much of their life in Silicon Valley or San Francisco -- where the culture is. So the word on the street is that no one knows what you're talking about when you talk about children disappearing or 3 meter tall trolls or anything. So you can walk into The Saddle Rack and ask the bartender or ride the mechanical bull and get nothing. You can go to Salang Pass or one of the other restaurants run by the thriving local Afghan demographic, and get nothing there too. It's quite a problem.}

\noindent{The Trench exists right off shore. The waters off of California get very deep very quickly, and it is a short boat ride to waters that are 4000 meters and more deep. Even the Deep Ones stay out of the abyss, and it is said that there are \emph{things} down there. Whatever the truth, it's \emph{also} true that if you dump something down there in a properly weighted box, it doesn't get found.}

\subsection*{San Francisco in Horror}

\desc{Boasting the second most recognized skyline of any city (following Manhattan), San Francisco has appeared in many movies. But the most \emph{iconic} of them are the movies of Hitchcock. \underline{The Birds} and \underline{Vertigo} are absolute classics, and can give you a very good feel for how to make the city feel creepy even in the bright daylight. Film Noir basically happens in San Francisco, and Sam Spade (of the Maltese Falcon fame) has almost all of his adventures in San Francisco. So you should be able to get a good noirish creepy vibe even if people go about at night. More recent work is also abundantly available: \underline{The Game}, and of course the poorly received \underline{Kindred} TV show that is nominally \emph{about} the World of Darkness took place in San Francisco as well. The key is that while San Francisco has had its share of giant octopus attacks and cameos in slasher movies, when people think of San Francisco in a World of Darkness setting, they are almost invariably looking for a more psychological twist. San Francisco is one of the most painstakingly \emph{civilized} cities in North America, and the feeling you're looking for is ``unnerving'' rather than revolting.}

\noindent{But of course: San Francisco is known for over-the-top action as well. \underline{Big Trouble in Little China} is essentially a documentary in the World of Darkness.}